Vienna Meet-Up & Afterparty at Chelsea

Is a Vienna-based Hivean dubbed HiWien? I’m not sure—I forgot to ask two days ago at my first Hive Vienna meet-up. Asking the waiter for a table booked for a Hive meeting felt pretty cool, especially in such a cozy place as Mikes restaurant, where we turned out to be the largest group of the evening. Not that we can take credit for it—everyone else was probably off to a Halloween party somewhere else. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the event. Thanks, Hive account@stayoutoftherz, for hosting!

As I mentioned to Hive account@schmidi, anyone can pin (almost) anything to Worldmappin, including Mikes restaurant, which I originally meant to chart for #beersaturday. But I got sidetracked and didn’t take the usual notes, being caught up in two conversations simultaneously. Sadly, the beers were served warmer than they should have been for their styles. The best of the three, though, was Schladminger BioZwickl, maybe because I’ve been to Schladming and had the same beer served properly there, so I could project the right taste. If you make it to Schladming, try the Schnee Weiße Bio rather, it's the best of their brews.

The beer of the month was, or rather, used to be, Monastbier by Paulaner Brewery—an Oktoberfest specialty. I might feel differently about it if I’d had it in Bavaria, but at Mikes, it didn’t really stand out.

Reininghaus Jahrgangs Pils also didn’t impress me; I expect different hops for this style. That wraps up my #beersaturday notes.

Mikes seems like the go-to spot if you’re Hive account@bradleyarrow or a pirate—rum is served as soup there. I was disappointed Bradly didn't arrive, I even found him flights to make it on time! I am sure he got stuck somewhere in Deer Lake, maybe in the only bar there. Or did he just end up deer-spotting again?

By the way, Mikes has a Serbo-Croatian menu, and serves ćevapi among other specialties (take note, Hive account@krakonos!). Now, that’s one way to revive the Austrian empire, bringing back all its languages to the capital.

Special thanks to Hive account@vikisecrets for taking me to an improvised afterparty and some mild vandalism (we stuck Hive stickers around). Everyone knows The Hotel Chelsea and the Chelsea Club references it. We only caught the last songs but still managed a couple of drinks and soaked up the atmosphere.

Here’s a beer trivia about Chelsea: it has Starobrno on tap, a Czech lager famously mocked as one of the worst (alongside about ten other industrial brews, depending on where in Czechia you’re from). This one’s said to be brewed from horse piss—and to taste exactly like it. I've never had the guts to try it, and I also passed it in Chelsea. I opted for Guinness, inspired by a group of Irish folks we ran into at the entrance.

Thanks again for the event and for having me! I thoroughly enjoyed it, and in the words of a famous fellow countryman of yours: I’ll be back!

This is my #BeerSaturday challenge post, and I would like to invite Hive account@schmidi to participate. I am sure there are Austrian brews he would find refreshing :) Write a post in any language about beer with at least 3 pictures. It does not have to be published on Saturday. Check the rules published by Hive account@detlev ;)